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While the different positive and negative impacts of digitalization for consumers’ everyday lives gain much attention from both policy-makers and academia, the question on how digital technologies can be applied to better attain consumer policy goals has so far earned comparatively little consideration. This paper endeavours to fill this gap by analysing the potential of what this paper calls consumer protection technologies. With this term, digital technologies are described that are used to foster consumer policy objectives. The paper then argues that these new digital technologies can significantly contribute to the attainment of priority consumer policy outcomes, namely consumer protection, consumer empowerment as well as consumer law and rights enforcement. Yet, both more awareness of consumer policy actors and academics for the potential of these digital technologies as well as a systematic review of consumer protection technologies are needed.

An optimally calibrated and validated mechanistic model for the simulation of soil-crop-climate interactions, emphasizing on nitrogen fertilization and water use, was used to predict nitrogen emissions to the environment in relation to the following scenarios for a cauliflower-leek rotation in Belgium. The reference system included 4 N-dose fertilization rates, were dose 3 is matching standard commercial cropping conditions. The following potential reduction strategies were carried out for the 4 N-doses in a factorial design: 1. FF: a fractionated (by 4) weekly fertilizer application of each N-dose rate (with cumulatively the same amount). 2. SC: a soil cover or plastic mulch during winter fallow period preventing water infiltration and N-leaching between the harvest of leek and the start of cauliflower of the next rotation cycle. 3. FFSC: a combination of the two reduction strategies above. Overall, the crop yield showed benefits from one or both the reduction strategies under the lower N-dose rates compared to the higher. This was especially the case for the cauliflower cultivation from March to June. Regarding crop cultivations per year, under the lower N-dose rates, yield increased due to fractionated fertilizer application (FF and thus FFSC), which seems to correspond better with the daily N-demand of the crop over its entire cultivation period. N-stress is reduced, especially at the later stages of crop growth. Overall, a reduction in field nitrogen emissions to the environment is expected implementing one or both the reduction strategies. Whereas the FF system benefits the environment regarding ammonia volatilization (NH3) and nitric oxide (NOx) emissions, the SC system and even more the combined FFSC system reduce the nitrogen losses the most, regarding nitrate leaching (NO3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Nevertheless, as a result of the full Life Cycle Assessment, the environmental impact of the reduction strategy systems would be higher as compared to that of the reference system. Main reason is the extra material (plastic cover) and energy input needed by the reduction strategy, which is not compensated (enough) by the expected yield increase and/or reduced field nitrogen emissions to benefit the environment. ispartof: Acta Horticulturae vol:1253.36 pages:269-278 status: published

Background Erda, a pan-fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor recently received accelerated US FDA approval for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC) in adult patients (pts) with FGFR2/3 alterations who progressed on ≥ 1 prior platinum-containing chemotherapy, based on a single-arm phase 2 study. In the absence of head-to-head studies, a matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) was used to compare the efficacy of erda relative to available therapies in mUC pts. Methods Systematic literature review was performed to identify published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of 2nd-line treatments (from 1990-on) in mUC pts with unknown FGFR status. Individual patient-level data (IPD) were used from the phase 2 study (NCT02365597) in mUC pts treated with erda (8 mg/day). ORR (primary endpoint), overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were compared using an unanchored MAIC. The IPD were weighted to match the aggregated data from comparator studies. Results Nine relevant RCTs of 6 comparators (docetaxel [D], vinflunine [V], pembrolizumab [Pb], atezolizumab [A], paclitaxel [P], and mixed-chemotherapy [D, V or P]) that were identified could be matched with. The matching-adjusted odds ratios (OR) for ORR were consistently >1 vs all comparators, suggesting higher ORR with erda treatment over all comparator 2nd-line therapies. The matching-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for OS and PFS vs all comparators were Table . 926P MAIC results for base case scenario: Erda (in FGFR+ pts) vs available 2nd-line therapies in pts with unknown FGFR status Comparator Study N (Neff) ORR (OR [95% CI]) OS (HR [95% CI]) PFS (HR [95% CI]) Pembrolizumab NCT02256436 79 (40) 2.26 [1.11; 4.59] * 0.61 [0.37; 0.99] * 0.77 [0.58; 1.03] Atezolizumab NCT02302807 74 (45) 6.80 [3.55; 13.02] *** 0.58 [0.37; 0.92] * Mixed-chemotherapy NCT02256436 79 (45) 4.15 [2.04; 8.46] *** 0.54 [0.35; 0.85] ** 0.77 [0.56; 1.07] Mixed-chemotherapy NCT02302807 74 (51) 6.26 [3.37; 11.63] *** 0.54 [0.34; 0.84] ** Docetaxela NCT01282463 68 (45) 3.71 [1.11; 12.35] * 0.72 [0.41; 1.25] 0.51 [0.32; 0.80] * Docetaxel NCT00880334 78 (42) 3.98 [1.48; 10.74] ** 0.52 [0.31; 0.87] * 0.84 [0.56; 1.26] Docetaxel NCT01780545 84 (47) 6.02 [2.48; 14.63] *** 0.37 [0.23; 0.61] *** Docetaxel NCT02426125 78 (63) 3.46 [1.80; 6.66] ** 0.63 [0.47; 0.84] * Vinfluninea NCT00315237 78 (53) 4.74 [2.21; 10.18] *** 0.57 [0.39; 0.84] ** Vinflunine NCT01830231 61 (32) 1.51 [0.45; 5.10] 0.49 [0.24; 0.99] * 0.96 [0.51; 1.81] Paclitaxela NCT00949455 68 (44) 2.63 [1.03; 6.73] * 0.59 [0.37; 0.95] * 0.95 [0.64; 1.41] For most comparators, only the main characteristics (according to clinical experts; number of risk factors, ECOG, liver metastases, hemoglobin * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01; *** p ≤ 0.0001 Conclusions Treatment of FGFR+ mUC pts with erda may be associated with improved overall response, PFS and OS as compared to available therapies in pts with unknown FGFR status. Clinical trial identification NCT02365597. Editorial acknowledgement Priya Ganpathy, MPharm, ISMPP CMPP™ (SIRO Clinpharm Pvt. Ltd, India) provided writing assistance and Harry Ma, PhD (Janssen Global Services) provided additional editorial support. Legal entity responsible for the study Janssen Research & Development, LLC. Funding Janssen Research & Development, LLC. Disclosure Y. Loriot: Honoraria (self), Consultancy / Advisory Role- Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Pfizer, Roche, Ipsen, Seattle Genetics, Sanofi; Research Funding- Sanofi (Inst) S. Van Sanden: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Employee and stockholder: Janssen Research & Development. J. Diels: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Employee and Share holder: Janssen Reserach & Development. N. Rahhali: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Employee and stockholder: Janssen Research & Development. D. Seshagiri: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Employee & stockholder: Janssen Reserach & Development. B. Kowalski: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Employee & stockholder: Janssen Research & Development. S. Fleming: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Employee & stockholder: Janssen Research & Development. P. De Porre: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Employee & stockholder: Janssen Research & Development. A.O. Siefker-Radtke: Consulting / Advisory Role: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eisai, EMD Serono, Genentech, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lilly, Merck, NCCN; Speakers’ Bureau: Genentech; Research funding: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen, Michael, Sherry Sutton; Fund for Urothelial Cancer: NIH, Takeda; Patents / Royalties / Other Intellectual Property: Methods of characterizing and treating molecular subsets of muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Several legumes with high biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) potentials have been studied in on-station trials. The processes involved in BNF and the benefits of these species to crop production need to be evaluated using farmers' management practices in farmers' fields. An on-farm trial with 20 farmers was conducted in the northern Guinea savanna (NGS) of Nigeria. The aims were to evaluate the BNF potentials of an improved soybean variety (TGx 1448-2E) and a local variety (Samsoy-2) when inoculated with Bradyrhizobium strains, and of Lablab in farmer-managed and researcher-managed soybean-maize and Lablab-maize crop rotation systems. The level of soil P was generally low with more than 50% of the fields having less than the critical P level. The plant available P content was statistically significantly (P = 0.05) correlated with P in grain (r = 0.60), P in the shoot (r = 0.68), grain yield (r = 0.40) and nodule weight (r = 0.35). Variations in plant parameters (nodulation, shoot dry matter, percentage nitrogen derived from the air [%Ndfa], grain yield, and nutrient uptake) among and within farmers’ fields were attributed to differences in soil fertility and crop management. About 60% of the fields were moderately fertile, sufficient to support legume establishment, while about 30% of the farmers' fields had a low fertility level. For farmers in the study area to benefit from the BNF potentials of the legumes, an external P fertilizer input was necessary as well as suitable crop management practices because all parameters measured in the researcher-managed plots were higher than in the farmer-managed plots.

This study developed biomass models to calculate carbon stock levels of the West African oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) using multi-date wet and dry season IKONOS images. Two benchmark areas of the derived savanna eco-regions of Africa were selected for analysis. Allometric equations related above-ground palm biomass to their stem heights. Empirical regression models based on field plot data were established to determine wet and dry biomass (kg m−2) of oil palm plantations in IKONOS images. The best models were exponential, involving bands 3, 3 and 1, or 3 and 4, and explaining between 63 and 72% of the variability in the data. Model evaluations with independent datasets showed there is 28-36% uncertainty in dry biomass predictions. At the landscape level, multi-date IKONOS data mapped oil palm plantations with an overall accuracy of 88-92%. However, the ability of IKONOS data to differentiate various age groups of oil palms was limited with a high degree of intermixing of classes. The best results were ob...

Sustainable resource management is the critical agricultural research and development challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. The accumulated knowledge on soil management gathered over the last 10 years, combined with solid crop improvement and plant health research at farmers’ level, has brought us to a stage where we can now address with confidence the intensification of cereal–grain–legume-based cropping systems in the dry savanna of West Africa in a sustainable and environmentally positive manner. Two sustainable farming systems that greatly enhance the productivity and sustainability of integrated livestock systems have been developed and implemented in the dry savanna of Nigeria. These are: (i) maize ( Zea mays L.)–promiscuous soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotations that combine high nitrogen fixation and the ability to kill large numbers of Striga hermonthica seeds in the soil; and (ii) miflet [ Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaerth] and dual-purpose cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.]. Improvement of the cropping systems in the dry savanna has been driven by the adoption of promiscuously nodulating soybean varieties (in particular TGx 1448-2E) and dual-purpose cowpea. The rate of adoption is very high, even in the absence of an efficient seed distribution system. The number of farmers cultivating the improved varieties increased by 228% during the last 3 years. Increased production of promiscuous soybean has been stimulated by increased demand from industries and home utilization. Production in Nigeria was estimated at 405,000 t in 1999 compared to less than 60,000 t in 1984. Economic analysis of these systems shows already an increase of 50–70% in the gross incomes of adopting farmers compared to those still following the current practices, mainly continuous maize cultivation. Furthermore, increases in legume areas of 10% in Nigeria (about 30,000 ha in the northern Guinea savanna) and increases of 20% in yield have translated into additional fixed nitrogen valued annually at US$ 44 million. This reflects, at the same time, an equivalent increase in land-use productivity, and with further spread of the improved crops, there are excellent prospects for additional economic and environmental benefits from a very large recommendation domain across West Africa.

To document prescribing patterns in clinical practice and assess long-term outcomes related to initiation of paliperidone ER and other oral antipsychotics among patients with schizophrenia in a naturalistic setting.An international, non-interventional, naturalistic study of adult patients (≥18 years) with schizophrenia. Patients were assigned to the relevant treatment group (paliperidone ER or 'all other oral antipsychotics') after switching to, or initiating, oral antipsychotic treatment. Retrospective 12 month data collection was followed by 12 month prospective data collection, with 3-monthly assessments. The primary endpoint was time to all-cause discontinuation of new medication. Secondary endpoints included Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) score, Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia (CGI-SCH) score, Personal and Social Performance (PSP) score, health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) and quality of sleep, evaluation of healthcare resource utilization and patient's treatment satisfaction.A total of 4051 patients were included in the intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis set. All-cause study discontinuation rates were comparable between the paliperidone ER group (16.8%) and the 'all other oral antipsychotics' group (15.5%). There was no difference in the time to discontinuation of newly initiated antipsychotic treatments between paliperidone ER and 'all other oral antipsychotics' groups. Paliperidone ER was associated with greater improvements from baseline to endpoint in both the PSP scale score (+14.2 vs +13.1, p = 0.041) and the physical component of quality of life (SF-12 Physical scores; +3.9 vs +2.9, p = 0.003) compared to 'all other oral antipsychotics'. Improvements in mean CGI-S score, CGI-SCH score, HR-QoL, quality of sleep and daytime drowsiness, as well as patients' treatment satisfaction were comparable between treatment groups. The incidence of adverse events was comparable between groups.This study provides valuable data on the prescribing habits and treatment outcomes associated with use of paliperidone ER in everyday clinical practice, and supports previous findings of the favorable functional improvement and treatment satisfaction associated with paliperidone ER.NCT00696813; R076477SCH4015 (Register of German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies [VFA] http://www.vfa.de/de/arzneimittel-forschung/datenbanken-zu-arzneimitteln/nisdb).

Although the West-African moist savanna zone has a high potential for crop production, yields on farmers' fields are, on average, far below this potential, mainly due to the low use of external sources of nutrients. Since the mid-1990s, it has become clear that in order to upgrade crop production to levels needed to sustain the growing population without further degrading the soil resource base, inorganic fertilizers are required. Due to the physico-chemical nature of these soils and the relatively high cost of inorganic fertilizers, a general consensus exists in the research and development community that these inorganic inputs need to be complemented with organic matter. Here, we explore options to produce organic matter in-situ and evaluate the impact of combining inorganic and organic sources of N on maize yields, focusing on the densely populated derived savanna (DS) benchmark of Benin Republic. Although most of the farmers (93%) in this benchmark use inorganic fertilizer, applications rates are low (on average, 27 kg N ha−1). A significant response to N was observed for 96% of the studied farmers' fields. Grain and herbaceous legumes were observed to produce between 383 and 8700 kg dry matter ha−1 in the benchmark area. Inoculation with Rhizobia and inorganic P additions were shown to significantly improve biomass production on sites with low contents of Rhizobia and P. Although maize grain yield was observed to increase significantly following a legume compared with following a maize crop or natural fallow, these increases were insufficient in the case of a cowpea crop or were obtained at the cost of leaving the field `idle' for a whole year in the case of a herbaceous Mucuna fallow. Topping up a cowpea haulms equivalent of 45 kg N ha−1 with 45 kg urea–N ha−1 was shown to give maize yields similar to the yields obtained after applying 90 kg urea–N ha−1 on the poorest fields. Moreover, on these fields, a positive interaction between cowpea–N and urea–N sources of 200 kg grain ha−1 was observed. On the richest fields, the effects of applied organic matter and fertilizer were additive. Agroforestry systems are alternative cropping systems that produce organic matter in-situ. As tree roots go down below the rooting depth of food crops, sub-soil fertility was observed to influence tree biomass production. Yield increases in tree-crop intercrop systems – such as alley cropping – in the absence of inorganic inputs are often reduced by the occurrence of tree-crop competition. In cut-and-carry systems, where tree prunings are harvested from a field adjacent to the crop land, increases in maize grain yield caused by addition of those prunings were observed to be on the low side. Mixing these residues with urea, however, was shown to lead to added benefits of about 500 kg grains ha−1, relative to the treatments with sole inputs of organic matter or urea. Although residue quality was shown to affect maize N uptake in a pot trial, its impact under field conditions was minimal for the range of considered residue qualities. In an alley cropping trial, maize yield was shown to be sustained on a non-degraded site and enhanced on a degraded site, when a minimal amount of mineral fertilizer was added with the prunings, whereas fertilizer application alone failed to do so in both cases.

One of the options to alleviate soil fertility constraints for sustainable agriculture in the savannas of West Africa is to develop soil nutrient management technologies from an adequate supply and feasible share of organic and mineral inputs. This paper makes a diagnosis of farm-level use of organic and inorganic inputs, as a basis for the development of technologies.The results from the diagnosis are then used to develop a framework for characterizing farmers for impact-oriented research on soil nutrient management systems. The survey was carried out with 200 farmers carefully selected in two villages in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria. The results showed that more than 90% of farmers in both villages used chemical fertilizers. This is contrary to a general belief that they are not widely applied to food crops by small holders in African agriculture. However, up to 81% of the fields received less than half of the recommended 120 because of high costs due, probably to removal of subsidies and inefficient marketing systems. Organic inputs such as animal manure were applied in very small quantities (about 8% of the requirements). However there is evidence of integrated use of inorganic fertilizers and organic manure on some(24%) of the fields. The problem to be addressed is that of the production (and efficient utilisation) of organic inputs in the northern Guinea savanna. Nitrogen deficiency is the most limiting soil nutrient in the cereal-dominated systems of study area. On this basis, farmers were classified into two a-priori groups using a threshold of 30, and multiple quantitative variables were fitted in a discriminant analysis tovalidate the typology. Results indicated that more than 75% of farmers were well classified into two groups that had the characteristics of thea-priori groups. Two others were a typical and included the remaining 25% of farmers. Thus, there are a total of four groups of farmers referred to as farmer domains in this paper. The two domains with 75% of well-classified individuals are suitable for the selection of farmers with whom to conduct applied research or for development activities because they represent the general patterns in the supply and use of soil nutrients in the study area.Although basic research can be done in the four domains, the two atypical groups are most suited for process-level studies to improve the understanding of factors that make the systems either more efficient or less efficient than the two other farmer domains. In either case, representative farmers were easily identified by their highest probability of belonging to a specific domain from the model results. Multivariate models constitute a good framework to make a typology of, and to select farmers for, participatory research and extrapolation of results in the northern Guinea savanna.

The contributions of clay, silt, and organic matter (OM) to the effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC) of soils in subSaharan Africa were examined using data from more than 2131 soil samples collected from Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. The data were partitioned into highland humid (HLH), lowland humid (LLH), subhumid (SH), nonhumid (NH), low altitude (LA), mid altitude (MA), 0-20-cm depth (D 1 ), and 20-40-cm depth (D 2 ) following preliminary analysis. The soils of each zone are generally low in ECEC and OM, and low to medium in clay and silt contents, and all exhibited wide variations both within and across the zones. In most ofthe zones, ECEC correlated significantly with all three variables. In the NH zone, however, clay exhibited a nonsignificant correlation with ECEC, and silt showed similar characteristics with ECEC in the SH zone. The absolute CEC of clay was highest in the HLH zone, where it made a relative contribution (RC) of67% to the ECEC. The highest RC of silt (37%) was obtained in the NH zone, where the CEC of silt was also highest. Generally, the RC of OM was either as high as or higher than the combined contributions of clay and silt to ECEC, except in the SH and LA zones. For the entire subregion, OM alone could account for about 60% of the mean ECEC of the soils. This demonstrates the overall importance of OM in maintaining the nutrient reserve in tropical areas. The overall variations in ECEC attributable to the three variables could range from 56% in the SH zone to 95% in the LLH zone. The distinct equations obtained for each zone show that interzonal application of the equations is not advisable, in particular because ofthe varying contributions of clay and silt. The study generally reveals that silt not only contributes significantly to ECEC but is more important than clay in some zones.

Neuromuscular retraining is an effective method for rehabilitating facial musculature in patients with facial paralysis. This nonsurgical therapy has demonstrated improved functional outcomes and is an important adjunct to surgical treatment for restoring facial movement. Treatment begins with an intensive clinical evaluation and incorporates appropriate sensory feedback techniques into a patient-specific, comprehensive, home therapy program. This article discusses appropriate patients, timelines for referral, and basic treatment practices of facial neuromuscular retraining for restoring function and expression to the highest level possible.

No Abstract.

The use of chemical fertilizers by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is usually estimated to be low and organic inputs have been advocated as an alternative technology for the alleviation of soil fertility constraints. However, no quantitative data are yet available to substantiate these assumptions in the derived savanna (DS) of West Africa. A farm survey was carried out with 232 farmers carefully selected in three villages located in the ecoregional benchmark area of the DS in the Republic of Benin. The main objective was to determine the current availability and use of organic and inorganic inputs by farmers as a perequisite for the design of balanced nutrient management systems. A secondary objective was to propose a typology of farmer that could participate in the development of balanced nutrients technologies. About 60% of the farmers investigated still practiced fallow but differences existed between villages. The average length of fallow was only 1 year for leguminous crops, 4 years for leguminous trees, and 9 years for fallow with palm trees. On average, 46% of all the farmers used inorganic fertilizers but this varied between 3% and 98% of farmers in the three survey villages. The quantities applied were limited; on average, the application of inorganic N amounted to 24 kg N ha-1 only. About 41% of farmers were found to apply less than 30 kg N ha-1, 16% between 30 and 60 kg N ha-1, 43% applied more than 60 kg N ha-1. The rates varied with the planted crop. For the commonly used, one third urea was combined to two thirds NPK. Then, for this combination of chemical fertilizer, 180 kg ha-1 were applied to cotton, 107 kg ha-1 to tomatoes, and only 76 kg ha-1 to maize, the main food crop of the study area. The use of organic inputs was still at a very early stage. About 9% of farmers apply only organic inputs to the fields while 18% combine them with inorganic fertilizer. Only 4.4% of the fields received organic fertilizer applications. Information on the quantity of organic inputs was not collected. However, most of the crop residues are either burnt (33% of respondents for maize) or thrown away (17% for maize). The use of chemical fertilizers (and organic inputs) was remedy nitrogen deficiency that is considered the most limiting soil nutrient in the maize-based systems of the DS. On the basis of thelimited quantity of N applied to the crops, farmers were classified into two a-priori groups using a threshold of 30 kg N ha-1, and multiple quantitative variables were fitted in a discriminant analysis to validate the typology. About 82% of farmers were well classified into two groups that had the characteristics of the a-priori groups. There were two other groups (18%) that were atypical. The two groups with 82% of well-classified individuals were suitable for the selection of farmers to conduct applied research or for the development of activities because they represent the general pattern in the supply and use of soil nutrients in the study area. Although basic research can be done with the four farmer groups, the two atypical groups were most suited for process-level studies to improve the understanding of factors that lead to improvements in the efficiency of a cropping system.

BackgroundThe electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry (e-STAR) is a prospective, observational study of patients with schizophrenia designed to evaluate long-term treatment outcomes in routine clinical practice.MethodsParameters were assessed at baseline and at 3 month intervals for 2 years in patients initiated on risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) (n= 1345) or a new oral antipsychotic (AP) (n= 277; 35.7% and 36.5% on risperidone and olanzapine, respectively) in Spain. Hospitalization prior to therapy was assessed by a retrospective chart review.ResultsAt 24 months, treatment retention (81.8% for RLAI versus 63.4% for oral APs,p< 0.0001) and reduction in Clinical Global Impression Severity scores (−1.14 for RLAI versus −0.94 for APs,p= 0.0165) were significantly higher with RLAI. Compared to the pre-switch period, RLAI patients had greater reductions in the number (reduction of 0.37 stays per patient versus 0.2,p< 0.05) and days (18.74 versus 13.02,p< 0.01) of hospitalizations at 24 months than oral AP patients.ConclusionsThis 2 year, prospective, observational study showed that, compared to oral antipsychotics, RLAI was associated with better treatment retention, greater improvement in clinical symptoms and functioning, and greater reduction in hospital stays and days in hospital in patients with schizophrenia. Improved treatment adherence, increased efficacy and reduced hospitalization with RLAI offer the opportunity of substantial therapeutic improvement in schizophrenia.

Cowpea is an important source of food, cash, and fodder in West Africa. It is perceived to be tolerant to low available soil phosphorus (P) conditions and nodulates promiscuously contributing to soil fertility through its high nitrogen (N)-fixing capacity. Cowpea can contribute substantial amounts of N to a subsequent cereal crop but little is known of the effect of cowpea on P nutrition of a cereal crop grown in rotation. This study, therefore evaluated eight cowpea genotypes for N2 fixation, tolerance to low soil P (0P), and response to P fertilizer application (90 kg P ha-1 as Rock Phosphate (RP) or 30 kg P ha-1 as Triple Superphosphate (TSP)), and their potential contribution of N and P to a subsequent maize crop in three agroecological zones (at Shika, northern Guinea savanna; at Fashola, derived savanna; and Davie, coastal savanna). Grain yield and P uptake of cowpea genotypes were influenced by location. Relative response of cowpea genotypes to P application was highest at Shika where soil resin P content was lowest. The responses to RP application across locations ranged from –14 to 94%; and 194 to 358% for TSP application. Variation between genotypes was minimal within the 0P and RP treatments but more pronounced within the TSP treatment at all the locations. The results showed that N2 fixation, N exported in grain, and N balances of cowpea genotypes were different depending on P nutrition conditions. Grain yield of maize following cowpea was influenced largely by the previous cowpea genotype through its N and P dynamics, location, and VAM colonization of roots. There was, however, no consistent evidence of a significant effect of P applied to the legume, on the residual value to the subsequent maize crop.

Data and maps from soil surveys conducted in the past can assist to better target agricultural technologies and to make technical recommendations more site-specific. Although data on soil and land characteristics are available for the northern Guinea savanna (NGS) agro-ecological zone of Nigeria, they are not in a form that can be easily retrieved, combined with other information, and used for decision-making in crop production and in planning agro-technology transfer. Now that appropriate tools are available for creating databases and for more quantitative analyses and interpretation of data, the potential of a given technology can be assessed over a large geographical support. This study was designed to evaluate major soils in a 20,000 km2 test area in the NGS of Nigeria in terms of yield returns with the use of mineral fertilizers, farmyard manure (FYM) and their combination. A second objective was to develop a land information system to support the transfer of combined use of mineral fertilizers and farmyard manure within the entire NGS.

Van Beurden-Tan C1, Rosinol L2, Diels J3, Wirth D4, Chirita O5, Lahuerta JJ6, Gaugris S5, Marsh S5, San Miguel J7, Spencer M5, Treur M1 and Blade J2 1Pharmerit International, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 3Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Beerse, Belgium, 4Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Germany, 5Janssen-Cilag Limited, United Kingdom, 6Hospital Universitario 12de Octubre, Madrid, Spain 7Hospital Clinico Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

Facial expression is our primary means of nonverbal communication. It is how we present ourselves to the world and the way in which other distinguish our emotions. Impairment of facial function may limit expressive movements as well as produce a variety of functional deficits. Facial paralysis is not only physically disabling, but can be psychologically disabling as well. The effectiveness of neuromuscular retraining for postacute facial paralysis is well documented [1,2, 3,4, 5, 6] and is a growing field of practice. The neuromuscular Retraining Clinic (NMRC), Facial Retraining Program, at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, has applied this research to an active clinical practice since 1983. Over 350 individuals with diagnoses such as postsurgical removal of acoustic neuroma and other tumors, Bell’s palsy, traumatic injury, cancer, congenital abnormalities, postanastomosis, and muscle transfers have been treated. Patients with paralysis, paresis, and/or synkinesis resulting from a peripheral injury to the seventh cranial nerve (C. N. VII) have effectively learned to improve facial motor control using specific neuromuscular retraining techniques and augmented feedback, including electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback.

Gross facial grading systems, such as the commonly used House grading system [1], do not provide the detailed functional information that is required by the surgeon who is performing a procedure affecting a specific area or areas of the face or by the therapist who must be concerned with selective motor retraining. The present functional assessment scales (FAS) have been developed over the past 15 years by the first author to regionally assess retraining of postsurgical and other types of facial paralysis patients (e.g., cancer, trauma, acoustic neuroma, Bell’s palsy, herpes zoster, congenital defects). The FAS have been used with up to 23 movements and gestures on hundreds of facial retraining patients. The methodology of facial retraining has been published elsewhere [2, 3].